Job Discussion Forums

[GeminiTiger]

This term is coming up quickly and I'm supposed to teach 5 sections of writing to sophomores and juniors. I enlisted here as an oral English teacher, but last term despite my pleas I got suckered into teaching writing and now they want me to teach it again.

To be blunt, I was teaching writing in a way that I think I could seriously improve on I would like to look back on this term as something less then wasting 4 months of my life, I would like to do the best job possible given "the situation".

I have a BA degree, but my spelling and grammar is mediocre, I especially am clueless about rules of grammar and technical jargon. Last term I gave several writing assignments and papers that I corrected and returned them and did some in class correction. That was OK, but it required a lot out of class work on my part. I need to diversify.

For materials I have a small book, one that I have currently misplaced.. anyways it about 100 pages and written in Chinglish. I hate it. I also have a business writing book for 2 sections, it's much bigger and I hate it just as much.

I am wondering what people have done with this course in the past. I would if possible actually like to teach them as much as I can, but I am also not willing to double my working hours to do it. At my old schools Chinese teachers always took this course and it's been a long time since I was in junior high grammar class.. I am at a loss.

I find internet resources quite limited on this subject, I could really use some helpful pointers, advice or simply a few links to research.

[AussieGuyInChina]

Ideas for the Writing Lessons

Week 1

Writing Basics - Write simple sentences about the past, present & future.

Writing Basics 2 - Sentence order and paragraphs.

Week 2

Factual Writing - a 150 word biography of father or mother.

Opinion Writing - a 150 word essay giving an opinion about the role of women in Chinese society.

Week 3

Factual Writing - a 150 word essay about China.

Opinion Writing - a 150 word essay about your own future.

Week 4

Informal Writing - A 150 word letter to your best friend in your hometown
telling him / her all about studying at XXX College

Formal Writing - A 150 word letter to XXX College complaining about your accommodation.

Week 5

Reasons & Examples - A 200 word opinion essay about why China is a good
holiday destination for foreigners.

Summarizing - Read about an endangered species and write a 150 word summary.

Week 6

Sequencing - Time order (1)

For and against - Write a 300 word essay for and against studying in Australia.

Week 7

Explaining - Write a 200 word explanation of your favourite TV advertisement.

Sequencing - Time order (2)

Week 8

Summarizing - Write a summary of graphical information provided.

Comparisons - Write a 200 word essay about the differences between the life of
a Chinese boy and the life of a Chinese girl.

Week 9

Cause and effect - Write a 300 word essay explaining the causes and effects of
being obese.

Opinion Writing - Write a 300 word essay about a controversial topic such as;
capital punishment, abortion, homosexual marriage

Week 10

Sequencing - Importance order : Write a list of instructions about how to do
something

Comparisons - Write a 300 word essay comparing studying in China with studying
in Australia.

Week 11

Explaining - Write a 300 word essay explaining a traditional Chinese wedding
ceremony

Factual Writing - Write a newspaper style article about Monash College

Week 12

Summarizing - Research a medicine or medical technology and write a summary explaining its purpose, history and development

For and against - X

Week 13

Cause and effect - Write a 300 word essay explaining the causes and effects of
pollution.

Opinion Writing - Write a 300 word essay giving your opinion as to whether smoking
should be banned in indoor public places such as restaurants,
shopping malls, bars, hotels, etc.

Week 14

- Revision & Exams

[Leon Purvis]

Too much of what you ask for can be copied from books and the internet. What I recommend is that you make everything personal for them. It worked for my classes. It helped them to create original and (sometimes) provocative statements.

1. Describe the happiest/saddest/most memorable day of your life.

2, What are your fears?

3. Who has had the most profound influence upon your life?

4. Should Dhofu be proclaimed China's official food? Why or why not?

5. Situation (girls): You want to marry an unemployed rock and roll musician. Explain why it is a good idea for you and try to anticipate your parents' objection.

6. Situation (boys): You have met an older woman and you want to marry her. She has a daughter who is older than you are. Explain to your parents why this is a good idea.

I am assuming that you are teaching college level. If not, I think that keeping the topic personal will elicit a lot more originality and interest them much more than vanilla prompts.

[arioch36]

Leon

[Leon Purvis]

arioch36,

I also teach writing using a five-6 paragraph essay as a guide. Students are encouraged to use the transitional elements in the essays. I believe in the modeling concept for teaching writing-- especially for efl. The task of addressing possible objections makes them think. This is one of the steps in writing argumentative essays. For expository writing, they're not required to include this step, unless, of course, their essay is actually argumentative in nature.

And I agree that the more specific the assignment and the tighter the guidelines, the better writers they will become. I believe that the students actually appreciate the strictures. I've found that most Chinese students (and even college-level American students) can't handle assignments that give them too much leeway. They'll either copy from an outside source or freak out because they have no guidelines because they've always been told exactly what to do.

In the case of the American students, the behavior is a result of lack of experience in reading different genre; in the case of the Chinese student, the behavior results from an inability to deal with self-expression.

One thing which you may try in class is to give the class the opportunity to create an exquisite corpse. Initially, the exquisite corpse was a game played by post-impressionist artists whereby a piece of paper was folded into four quadrants. Each artist was allowed to draw in one quadrant --to the edge of the adjoining quadrant--without the benefit of seeing what the other artists had drawn. After all four artists were finished, the paper was opened, and the resulting artwork was revealed.

In writing an exquisite corpse, the teacher merely begins a story by introducing one or more characters in three or four paragraphs, then leaves space for the students to write in. In the next part is a simple transition for the students to create a twist in the plot.

I created about ten of these and I hand them out whenever the class seems burned out or tired of being yakked at. The students begin the story, writing one or two sentences, then pass the paper along to another student (or group of students) who adds his own idea to the story and passes it on to another. If you have at least ten different stories circulating in the class, the class stays busy, either composing or looking up words to use in the story.

The students are encouraged to be as creative or as strange as they want to be. Depending upon the direction of the stories, the class may seem to be in hilarious mayhem, or studious thought. This is always a hit with writing class. I believe that most students get a lot out of this activity.

Arioch36, I noticed that unless I made oral arguments very specific, I'd hear the same arguments-- word-for-word class after class. Hence, I made very specific guidelines for the assigned oral arguments. I often interrupted the oral arguments to ask questions.

At first, this freaked the students out, but they realized that memorization just wasn't enough to do well in my class. They learned in writing class to anticipate possible objections to their arguments. They figured out that they had to do the same in their oral classes.

So yeah, I agree. Be very specific in the assignments, and provide guidelines from which they must not deviate. (I could say more about successful deviation from guidelines and creativity, but it is not appropriate for this thread).

[Anda]

Forget Western School topics and go to this site on the net:


http://www.topics-mag.com/



Print out a couple of examples and hand out to your students. Tell them the handout is a sample of what you want.


Here is another idea for your class

http://www.epals.com/tools/forum/forum.e?bo=67&at=db&xtp=29#jtff

[Leon Purvis]

Anda,

The problem with the four topic areas in the first link is that the information is widely available on the internet and easily copied. I think you missed the point of my suggestion of making the writing topics personal. No one has the same experiences or reacts the same to a given situation.

Granted, some students may experience discomfort writing about themselves, my experience is that the students find it refreshing to be ABLE to express themselves as they wish.

Writing to penpals as part of a writing curriculum? That's a unique approach, but if the students are to benefit from written discourse, they must get quick answers.

Writing fiction can work for advanced writers, but for students who are not proficient writers, fiction would be better handled in the Exquisite Corpse format because the EQ provides a stimulus to which the student respond. Native speakers don't write fiction well without a lot of practice.

Re the advice to forget western topics. Since when is personal experience solely a western topic?

[sui jin]

Two things that really worked well with my writing classes last term:

1. The students wrote a daily journal: 2 pages of English for 20 days for example. Students could write anything they liked , the object was to improve fluency not accuracy. I did not correct the journals, just checked progress and the number of pages completed. I think they enjoyed writing without the dread of the red pen.

2. an idea found on the internet. Have the students name types of fictional writing (detective , SF etc), write these on the board and then ask each student to say which is their favourite. Then get the students to form groups accrding to their choices, and set them off discussing a story outline. The students agree on characters, plot outline, setting. So in class they begin to write the story together, and then at home they complete the story individually.
Next class, the students in each group read each other's stories, and decide which is the group's best one. I put the best ones together in a folder and then asked the monitor to circulate so all students could read.

[arioch36]

[AussieGuyInChina]

I teach writing lessons to students who will be studying overseas at year's end.

All of the writing assignments I have listed are undertaken in-class (2 hour lessons); there is no scope to copy from the internet or books. I give the students seperate homework tasks in respect of which they are repeartedly warned about plagiarism.

Teaching creative writing is almost a waste of time. I challenge every forum member reading this thread to reflect upon how much creative writing you have undertaken since graduating. On the other hand, how many times have you needed to write about and explain an event or happening, explain a sequence of procedures, or express an opinion?

[Leon Purvis]

[Lorean]

I was in a situation similar to the OP. I taught writing at a university for two semester. Here's what I ended up doing.

Have the students write one essay every class. Before class, mark a subset of their essays, highlighting all the 'Chinglish'. Spend the first 30 minutes discussing their mistakes. Afterwards, discuss some random topic of interest to them. Finally, have the students write another essay on the topic.

Problem: students plagiarize. Last semester, I caught 9 students plagiarize on their first assignment.
Solution: All assignments are completed in class. I run my classes like senior high school. Thanks goes to another poster on the forum who suggested this.

Problem: Too many students make marking essays intractable. My university crammed 40-60 students into one writing class.
Solution: Mark a random sample of the essays. Last semester, I had students write one essay every week. I would randomly mark 50% of the essays and record their marks under participation.

[Surfdude18]

I hope that in the OP's classes, he teaches them to spell the word 'writing' and not 'writting'.

[articulate_ink]

[Silent Shadow]

I agree, that the best way to avoid plagiarism is to have all the writing assignments done in class. Have them practice writing arguments the week before by giving samples and handouts. Allow them to practice writing thesis statements and topic sentences and so on, on the board. Then, the next week review it all and then give them a choice of topics based on their personal experiences to argue about. For example they could argue about whether it's good for a student to have a girlfriend or boyfriend on campus. Out of class assignments on general topics almost inevitably result in a good percentage of students plagiarising, so i feel that it's a waste of everybody's time.

Although I understand your point, Aussieguy, I don't think teaching creative writing is a waste of time. Let's be honest most student's aren't falling over themselves to get to writing class. They often think writing is tedious and laborious. Creative writing assignments used in the right way can be an effective tool in creating enthusiasm not just in writing, but in English in general. How many students (even English majors) have told you that they don't really like English, but are only studying it on sufferance?

Using a sequence of pictures, almost like a cartoon without captions you can tell the students to first write dialogues for the characters and then write in a narrative form. This method includes subjective/ objective describing skills and the students are also describing a sequence of events. Creative writing is also good for students in that it forces them to increase their vocabulary so as to be able to write more descriptive passages.

I intend to give my students an expository exercise in which I will give them copies of a picture that I created myself that illustrates an important point I want to get across to them. It's a certain action that they must take if they really want to improve their English. Instead of just lecturing them on this, I thought it would be good to give them this picture to see if they can work out the analogy themselves. They will have one week to look at the picture. Then the next week they will discuss it in groups. After that they will write a short expository on it. This exercise includes elements of creative writing and will hopefully also improve their thinking skills. Subjective thinking comes into play here too. Of course, the WHOLE semester should not be filled with only creative writing projects.

I also have been struggling with the amount of grading involved. I've had up to 150 writing students at a time, spread over four classes. At first I only graded one class each week. The problem I found is that many students don't try very hard if they think that there's a good chance that they're not going to be graded on a certain week.

What I do now, is assign no more than eight or nine assignments over the semester and grade EVERY paper. The other weeks are used for trouble-shooting and correction. I also give short motivational speeches, and write famous inspirational quotes on the board for them to interpret. We discuss these quotes and sometimes they write a sentence or two on them. The nine writing assignments constitute 30% of their exam grade. It still means a lot of papers to mark, and it is a bit tiresome marking them, but it does ensure that generally everybody makes a whole-hearted effort with EVERY paper they write. They also try harder to listen carefully to my instructions on how to write their assignments. Luckily, I only have two classes for writing this semester.

Risk of exam failure is one of the best motivational tools to use with Chinese students. This should of course increase learning. I intend to hand out rubrics with each writing assignment this semester. They will be designed to make my grading easier.